419 scam: Africa Financial Monitoring Commission <boabohiconbranch11@gmail.com> Re: Important update.

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"419" Scam – Advance Fee / Fake Lottery Scam

The so-called "419" scam is a type of fraud dominated by criminals from Nigeria and other countries in Africa. Victims of the scam are promised a large amount of money, such as a lottery prize, inheritance, money sitting in some bank account, etc.

Victims never receive this non-existent fortune but are tricked into sending their money to the criminals, who remain anonymous. They hide their real identity and location by using fake names and fake postal addresses as well as communicating via anonymous free email accounts and mobile phones.

Keep in mind that scammers DO NOT use their real names when defrauding people.
The criminals either abuse names of real people or companies or invent names or addresses.
Any real people or companies mentioned below have NO CONNECTION to the scammers!

Read more about such scams here or in our 419 FAQ. Use the Scam-O-Matic to verify suspect emails.

Click here to report a problem with this page.

Some comments by the Scam-O-Matic about the following email:

The following phrases in this message should put you on alert:
- "western union" (this will cost you money - be careful with upfront payments to anyone you only know through email, especially if they promise you a lot of money. NEVER send money by Western Union or MoneyGram to people you do not know personally - NO EXCEPTIONS! Instant wire transfer services are not meant to be used with strangers because they offer no protection against fraud. That is precisely why the criminals want you send money that way. )
- "mtcn" (this will cost you money - be careful with upfront payments to anyone you only know through email, especially if they promise you a lot of money. NEVER send money by Western Union or MoneyGram to people you do not know personally - NO EXCEPTIONS! Instant wire transfer services are not meant to be used with strangers because they offer no protection against fraud. That is precisely why the criminals want you send money that way. )
- "dear beneficiary," (this SPAM email was probably sent to thousands of people)
This email message is a 419 scam. Please see our 419 FAQ for more details on such scams.
Western Union money transfer is completely untraceable and therefore is *not* safe to use with anyone you do not know personally. It is the preferred method of online criminals to collect money from their victims.

Fraud email example:

From: Africa Financial Monitoring Commission <boabohiconbranch11@gmail.com>
Date: Sat, 23 Apr 2011 09:30:41 +0100
Subject: Re: Important update.

Mr. Maxwell Katanga,
Africa Financial Monitoring Commission,
Benin Republic Division.
23-04-2011.

Dear beneficiary,

This is the third time I am contacting you concerning same information. Due
to the so much paper work required in transferring your fund to you through
bank to bank wire transfer, this commission has been mandated to handle the
transfer of your fund ($950,000.00) nine hundred and fifty thousand United
States Dollars through Western Union Money Transfer in collaboration with
our affiliated off shore payment center:

You are adviced to immediately track your first payment of $4,500 on the
Western Union website (westernunion.com) using the information below:

Sender: Thomas Lee
MTCN: 9109243998

and contact the person in charge of your transfer to send to you the rest of
the information needed for you to cash your money. Below is his contact
information:

Name: Mr. Andrew Ayo
Email: wumtoffice71@ymail.com

Please, do this immediately you read this mail. This has taken much more
longer than expected and we are not happy with your silence despite the fact
that we have contacted you several times without hearing a word from you not
knowing if you are still on this email ID or not.

We anticipate your response as soon as you read this and get this finalised.

Yours sincerely,
Mr. Maxwell Katanga.
Operations Director.

Anti-fraud resources:

What can you do when you receive 419 spam